How busy will Winnipeg's playgrounds really be? Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Too soon? Provinces are rolling out their reopening strategies at different speeds. Starting today, Manitobans will be able to visit museums, hair salons, restaurant patios and other non-essential businesses, after Premier Brian Pallister announced last week that the provincial case loads and community transmission were both remaining low. But public gatherings are still limited to 10 people, while businesses will be forced to account for physical distancing and increased sanitation. In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney has similar plans in the not-too-distant future. "I think we've fared much better than most, with a much lower level of hospitalizations and ICU admissions on a per-capita basis than most jurisdictions around the world," he said Sunday on Global's The West Block. "So we think we've got this, but we're gonna have to stay vigilant." The provinces are no doubt watching their southern friends, some of whom are also reopening their economies. Business owners in the state of Georgia heard crickets when they swung their "Open for Business" signs around this past weekend. One axe-throwing company expected 10 per cent of their usual traffic: "That was the worst-case scenario, especially with all the marketing we did," the CEO told local media. "The reopening weekend was a disaster. We had two customers all weekend." Supply, after all, is one thing—demand is quite another. Let the kids play. Some early non-essential services reopening are public parks and playgrounds, which is good news for parents whose kids are getting antsy stuck inside. According to Wendy Glauser in Maclean's, keeping kids cooped up isn't actually helping much. Now that we know the coronavirus transmission is significantly unlikely to happen when simply walking past someone on the street, we need to let our kids play outside. Blanket "stay home" messaging may have been appropriate at the beginning of this pandemic, when physical distancing was new and confusing. But now that we understand physical distancing better, the messaging can be more nuanced. Keep in mind, researchers warn COVID-19 likely won’t likely be eradicated; this lockdown has been long, and it likely won’t be the only one we have to endure. We need to adapt in a way that’s sustainable for our health, and for our kids’ health. Like Eurovision, but with doctors and politicians. This morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will participate in an "online pledging conference" for the Coronavirus Global Response, a European initiative hoping to raise €7.5 billion (about CAD$11 billion) for diagnostics, treatments and a vaccine. The program starts at 9 a.m. EST, and you can stream it live here. The name you love to say. On Friday, Canada announced Tiff Macklem will be the next governor of the Bank of Canada. The current governor, Stephen Poloz, will end his tenure on June 2. In addition to having a simply awesome name (with shades of Burt Macklin, FBI ), Macklem has worked for the BoC for decades, and almost nabbed the top job in 2013, when Poloz beat him to it. Macklem instead became dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in 2014. He's has been widely praised as a solid pick for the title, which is good news, because "national bank head at the cusp of a recession" has got to be one of the toughest jobs in the world right now. However, it may be more appropriate to say we're currently in a recession. According to the C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council, which monitors recessions and recoveries in Canada, "Canada entered a recession in the first quarter of 2020." A recession is commonly defined as six consecutive months of a shrinking economy, though C.D. Howe plays by their own rules. Basically, they're calling it early. And, really, is anyone betting against them? Big trouble in China. The Chinese government must be held accountable for its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, write Errol Patrick Mendes, Marcus Kolga and Sarah Teich in Maclean's. There have been calculable costs to China's actions, including economic losses and faulty surgical masks sold internationally, not to mention their poor record on human rights. The Canadian government has numerous avenues to explore punitive measures, should it choose to enact them. Canada’s political leaders must find the courage not to allow themselves to be intimidated by China’s totalitarian regime, and stand up against their crimes against the Uyghurs, other human rights abuses including the arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, and rampant corruption. However, now is also the critical time to put in place plans to eventually hold them to account for the global spread of COVID-19. Gunning for controversy. On Friday, Trudeau announced a ban on 1,500 kinds of military-grade assault weapons. (View the full list here, or read the transcript of Trudeau's speech here .) While critics call the move needless politicking during a pandemic—and point out that most of Canada's gun crime comes from guns illegally smuggled in from the United States and have nothing to do with legal ownership—proponents remind everyone that Trudeau has openly campaigned on this for years, and 78 per cent of Canadians support "a complete ban on civilian possession of assault-style weapons," according to a timely Angus Reid poll. Furthermore, on Sunday, Trudeau doubled down on his actions, and announced plans to empower municipalities to ban handguns sometime in the near future. Trudeau said the government would wait until Parliament can discuss the matter before moving forward with legislation. (The assault-weapon ban did not require parliamentary approval.) So much for BFFs. After an all-too-brief spell of bipartisan cooperation, Ontario Premier Doug Ford attacked Trudeau for the assault-weapon ban, saying, "The problem is not the legal gun owners—we need to target the smugglers and we need to throw the book at these gangsters out there terrorizing our streets." A community, lost. Many media reports called Portapique, N.S., a "tight-knit community" after it was recently devastated by a mass murder. But that claim isn't entirely accurate, according to some locals. The community has been crumbling for decades, plagued by youth moving away and residents growing old in isolation. Stephen Maher, in Maclean's, spoke to the people who live there to try and understand the unfortunate town. “It’s been a slow dwindling,” says Serena Lewis, a grief counsellor who lives in Great Village. Her father recalls when there were 11 gas stations on the road from Great Village to Parrsboro. Now there is just one. As the gas stations, churches and stores closed, people grew apart. “There is not really a sense of community at all,” she says. “I’m struggling to stay living here just because it’s so isolated. There’s such a disconnect. Other parts of the province have thrived but we’ve never bounced back. That’s why I’m worried for this community.” Conspiracies afoot. The frontrunner in the federal Conservative leadership race, Peter MacKay, has issued a libel notice to The Post Millennial, a right-wing news website, over its connections to the campaign of MacKay's rival, Erin O'Toole. At the source of the conflict is a poll conducted by DesLauriers Public Affairs, a polling firm run by O'Toole's campaign manager, which claimed (according to The Post Millennial's headline) "MacKay's Support Plummeting, O'Toole Takes the Lead. " MacKay's lawyer has also drawn connections with Jeff Balingall, who works for both The Post Millennial and also O'Toole's campaign, while simultaneously helming the popular "Proud" series of social media pages (Ontario Proud, Canada Proud, et al), which, of course, happened to share The Post Millennial story. Insidious anti-MacKay conspiracy or the small world of Canadian politics? You decide. Songs of the summer. In case you missed it, on Friday, a musical genius transformed Doug Ford's critique of Queen's Park anti-lockdown protesters ("a bunch of yahoos") into a veritable auto-tuned '80s jam. The composer in question is Brock Tyler, an indie musician from Edmonton, who rose to fame weeks ago with his viral hit "Speaking Moistly", which has topped 3 million views on YouTube. "Bunch of Yahoos" has only made it a little above 300,000 views. (If we're being honest, "Speaking Moistly" is the catchier tune, but "Bunch of Yahoos" has got a good groove.) —Michael Fraiman | 
